Summary

Pro Tour Ixalan is in the books, and just as many people predicted, Temur Energy was the dominant force of the tournament, despite not taking home the trophy. Following the Pro Tour, many players are looking for new variants of Temur to emerge that look to get a positive matchup in the mirror, like the deck we’re featuring today, 4-Color Combo Energy, which adds a combo element to the strongest deck in the format.

What makes this deck strong is that it’s primarily a Temur Energy deck. Servant of the Conduit is a valuable energy-maker at two mana as well as an efficient mana producer, which helps this deck in particular, as it’s both a four-color deck and rather mana hungry. Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso have proven themselves as the best 3 mana creatures for this deck ever since they were printed. Refiner replaces itself when it lands and provides a decent attacker and blocker as well as a fair amount of energy, while Virtuoso is a major energy payoff, turning energy into evasive attackers that can trade profitably with the opponent’s creatures or threaten the opponent’s life total.

Further up the curve, Bristling Hydra is not a surprise to see either. Despite being a rather expensive creature, it is incredibly difficult to deal with for any slower decks in the format and immediately threatens the opponent’s life total. The same can certainly be said about Carnage Tyrant. It is a nightmare for control decks or midrange decks that look to fight into the late game. It’s a powerful attacker that can act as a mirror breaker when boards stall.

Finally, what separates this deck from the traditional Temur or 4-Color Energy decks of this format is that this deck has a powerful combo finish, thanks to Onward // Victory. Onward is a cheap way of doubling up a creature’s power, which is especially useful with Carnage Tyrant, as it has trample, and the back side of it, Victory, does a great impression of Temur Battle Rage, turning this deck into a pseudo-combo deck that can play the midrange fight if needed. Because this deck is a more combo-oriented version, Essence Scatter and Supreme Will are used as ways of preemptively removing creatures or other troublesome permanents from the battlefield or countering targeted removal.